So it’s been 17 years, and MGM wants to remake yet again, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair‘. This will be the third time for a remake. Do they have any original ideas? I think not. It’s not all bad news though. Michael B. Jordan (Creed, The Wire, Fruitvale Station) is signed on to star in the remake.

In what might be the best news of the day, MGM has set director Ryan Coogler along with actor Michael B. Jordan in developing a spinoff ‘Rocky‘ film called ‘Creed‘. Don’t worry, Sly Stallone will reprise Rocky again as a retired boxer, now trainer for Apollo Creed’s grandson, which will be played by Jordan. Coogler and Jordan most recently collaborated on the amazing film ‘Fruitvale Station‘, which you can read that review HERE.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Imagine if someone made a Beatles movie but Ringo was the one who had the final say in every plot point? That’s what you get here. Surviving band members doing everything they can to make sure you recognize it wasn’t just Freddie Mercury in Queen. Guess what? We know that bu we don’t care.

THE FILM

Going into the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’d hope you wouldn’t see the same thing over and over that we’ve been watching since Iron Man debuted a decade ago. As the years have passed on by, watching a Marvel movie became something tedious, even though most of the films are fun and enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, Marvel has done a great job with each and every film they’ve put out, but moving into their 18th film, it seems like we’ve seen almost everything and every action scene is something recycled from the previous, whether it be superheroes jumping from car to car during car chases or aliens come out of the sky and destroying the planet. Luckily for all of us Marvel fans, ‘Black Panther‘ breathes new and creative life into a somewhat stale film series in the best ways possible.

Admittedly, the easiest narrative for Black Panther reviews is that it is a “game-changer”, “important”, “redefines hero”, etc. Those narratives and feelings aren’t wrong. I think Black Panther is one of Marvel’s best stand-alone hero films. It is right behind The Winter Soldier and the original Iron Man for me. In a few years it may even eclipse those two as the distance and impact it has going forward is felt. I believe the cultural and racial themes of this film are well thought out, focused, bold, and sobering. To be perfectly honest I don’t feel comfortable writing about that aspect of the film in depth. I’m a 32 year old goofy white guy who is not a good enough writer to navigate that territory, plus I lack the experiences that would make my take worth reading. There are some incredible writers who have written on the overall cultural impact of (essentially) an all-black cast superhero film and I encourage all of you to seek those pieces out because they are worth your time. My review is going to focus on just how badass this movie is.

Going into the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’d hope you wouldn’t see the same thing over and over that we’ve been watching since Iron Man debuted a decade ago. As the years have passed on by, watching a Marvel movie became something tedious, even though most of the films are fun and enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, Marvel has done a great job with each and every film they’ve put out, but moving into their 18th film, it seems like we’ve seen almost everything and every action scene is something recycled from the previous, whether it be superheroes jumping from car to car during car chases or aliens come out of the sky and destroying the planet. Luckily for all of us Marvel fans, ‘Black Panther‘ breathes new and creative life into a somewhat stale film series in the best ways possible.

Marvel Studios has mastered the art of amping up the anticipation of their audiences for any drop of news about upcoming comic-book based movies. So it’s no surprise that we were granted with the first poster for ‘Black Panther‘ ahead of the trailer debut tonight.

Warner Bros. is at a loss for original ideas, so they are wanting to get back to 1999 when ‘The Matrix‘ was releasing, because in fact, they want to remake ‘The Matrix‘. This is a terrible idea. There are tons of original stories and ideas out there. Get after it Warner Bros.Sources close to the project have said that a remake of ‘The Matrix‘ is in the works, which isn’t necessarily new news, since we reported on this a couple of years ago. It wasn’t so much of a remake back then, but maybe an expanse on the storyline or even a sequel.

‘Black Panther‘ isn’t coming out until 2018 and I didn’t think the decks could get any more stacked as far as the cast was concerned, but there’s another cast member boarding the Marvel flick. Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown will appear as N’Jobu.

‘The Warriors‘ has always been one of my favorite films. It still holds up after all these years – well since Walter Hill’s cult classic 1979 film of Richard Price’s novel. I’ve watched it recently and I still love as much as the first time I saw it. This last time I watched it, I actually wondered, “hmmm, I wonder why there hasn’t been a remake of this yet.” Well, someone must have been listening to my inner dialogue, because ‘The Warriors‘ is getting a remake in the form of an hour-long TV series with Paramount and Hulu.Read the rest of this entry »

THE FILM

Another year, another ‘Rocky‘ movie. Some of you might be saying, “When is enough, enough?” More times than not, you might be right with any string of sequels that goes back the third installment, particularly with the ‘Rocky‘ franchise. Sure, the first ‘Rocky‘ film from 1976 was spectacular, and arguably one of the better movies ever made. It even won a ton of Oscars that year, including Best Picture. ‘Rocky II‘ came shortly after, which was still excellent, but starting with ‘Rocky III‘, things got silly and the films lost some focus. Still, audiences world wide packed theater houses to see the Italian Stallion (Sylvester Stallone) underdog his way up to the top, never quitting and giving his best. It’s a great message.

If you’ve got an itch to get in the ring, Rocky-style, you can either start swallowing raw eggs, punching sides of beef and running like a marathoner, or you can have some pizza, stay in your jammie pants and hit play on your remote bringing ‘Creed‘ to your home entertainment center. I’m not saying what my plans are, just know I’m in my pj’s and I have pizza within reach, go figure.

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by. 2015 was an interesting year to say the least, most of which was great. Movie-wise, I think 2015 had some excellent films filling its theaters, but of course it had some real stinkers too. Below is my list of the Best and Worst films of 2015. I believe this year I watched over 175 new films, theatrically speaking and it was very difficult to narrow them down from 25. After some strawberry cake covered in Lucky Charms, I finally had a TOP 15, however, these films are in no particular order this year. But when you talk about the Best movies, you have to mention the worst too. My list tends to be a tad bit different from others, but hey, I’m twisted. I highly encourage you to seek out these movies – good or bad and enjoy the rest of your year.

Another year, another ‘Rocky‘ movie. Some of you might be saying, “When is enough, enough?” More times than not, you might be right with any string of sequels that goes back the third installment, particularly with the ‘Rocky‘ franchise. Sure, the first ‘Rocky‘ film from 1976 was spectacular, and arguably one of the better movies ever made. It even won a ton of Oscars that year, including Best Picture. ‘Rocky II‘ came shortly after, which was still excellent, but starting with ‘Rocky III‘, things got silly and the films lost some focus. Still, audiences world wide packed theater houses to see the Italian Stallion (Sylvester Stallone) underdog his way up to the top, never quitting and giving his best. It’s a great message.

We knew it was only a matter of time before the movie-world became flooded with rap biopics after the crazy success ‘Straight Outta Compton‘ is enjoying. We talked about a possible follow-up to Compton with ‘Welcome to Death Row‘ here, and now there’s news that Universal is considering another rap story, this time of Def Jam Recordings and its co-founder Russell Simmons.

‘Fantastic Four‘ has always been a fun comic book. Ever since the early 60s, these four heroes have entertained us in each crime fighting, earth saving, and alien destroying issue. With Reed Richards, Johnny and Sue Storm, and Ben Grimm, there was nothing that these four couldn’t handle. One of my favorite story arcs was from the mid-2000’s where Ultimate Fantastic Four had to deal with zombies. It was an excellent storyline, one that I wish will be told on the big screen at some point. Speaking of the big screen, the Fantastic Four have never seen a good adaptation.

We’re still not done with Comic-Con news and, in this case, it’s a new trailer that was aired specifically for the event. We’ve seen a ‘Fantastic Four‘ trailer already, the first trailer was released in April. This one showcases the heroes a bit more and makes us even more excited for the debut which is coming in less than a month on August 7.

Director Josh Trank (‘Chronicle‘) has put his spin on Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, ‘Fantastic Four‘. This will be the story we’ve learned to expect when a superhero franchise takes off, how they became super and how they’re handling it.

We have the opportunity to see Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell in their superhero roles where they become ‘The Fantastic Four‘! Director Josh Trank brings this re-imagining to the big screen on August 7, 2015!

Despite being 68 years old, Sylvester Stallone is still game for boxing his way for a title fight as well as taking on an army of bad guys. That’s right, the two more iconic roles the actor is known for will be back on the big screen within a couple of years. I am of course talking about ‘Rambo‘ and ‘Rocky‘.

By now, everyone has learned that Fox is doing a reboot of ‘Fantastic Four‘. I will never, ever understand the studio decision to re-make a movie that is not very old. ‘Fantastic Four‘ came out in 2005 so it’s not even 10 years old, yet. Stars from the film and the director are still very relevant to what is current. They’re all still working in big budget situations and are drawing crowds.

Woody Harrelson has always had an in-demand acting career, but it seems that he was never so popular as he is now. Everywhere you look, things are turning up Woody. Harrelson joins the cast of ‘Triple Nine‘, a heist-thriller directed by John Hillcoat. Hillcoat brought us some massive hits like ‘The Road‘ and 2012’s massive hit ‘Lawless‘.

The most glamorous night in Hollywood is coming up quick.We see our own version of American royalty dressed to the nines, and walking the red carpet. Producers of The Oscars, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have given us a rundown on the list of stars that will be presenting the Academy Awards of Merit. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the live event on Sunday, March 2 on ABC.

Fox is rebooting it’s superhero franchise, ‘Fantastic Four‘ with Josh Trank (Chronicle) directing. It seems now that Trank and Fox has found its leading heroes. Miles Teller, Kata Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell are set to star in the Marvel Comic adaptation. This is great news and one hell of a cast.

We knew that Fox was rebooting their ‘Fantastic Four‘ franchise for some time now. The last two ‘Fantastic Four‘ films were both pretty awful, so it is only fitting that we get a new vision of one of Marvel’s greatest super-hero teams. Josh Trank is directing, which his claim to fame was the ‘found footage’ super-hero film ‘Chronicle‘. I think this is a good fit for him. And the only person attached to the movie so far is actor Michael B. Jordan (‘Fruitvale Station‘).

Well the Oscar nominations are in, which you can see by CLICKING HERE. There were some great nominees this year, but tons of stuff got snubbed. I can’t believe some of the misfires this year. There are tons of films and people that should have received a nomination. Here are some that got snubbed in my opinion.

Here is the hilarious red band trailer for Tom Gormican’s raunchy R-rate comedy, ‘That Awkward Moment‘, which stars Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller. The story centers around three best friends who all want to lead the bachelor/single life for as long as they can when one of them breaks up with their long term girlfriend.

The first word that comes to my mind about this movie is… Heart. Based on a true story of Oscar Grant, the 22 year old that was murdered by a police officer in the early hours of New Year’s Day in 2009 at the Fruitvale BART Station in the Bay Area of California, the story follows Oscar, played by Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights) on the last day of his life and shows the ups and downs he faced as a young man and father trying to do the right thing.

What a rough movie to get through. After the credits rolled and the lights came up in the theater, there was not a dry eye in the house. Instead of a documentary, we have a narrative account on the real life murder of Oscar Grant, an incident that occurred on New Years Night in 2009 that sparked large protests and riots in Oakland and around the country. In his first feature film effort, director Ryan Coogler takes us through the life of Grant in the hours leading up to his untimely murder. Major Hollywood figures have been involved in this case with Forest Whitaker serving as producer on the film and Octavia Spencer playing the role of Grant’s mother. This film needs to be seen by everyone and I wish I could buy everyone a ticket to see ‘Fruitvale Station’.

The 2013 Sundance Film Festival is in full preparation mode as it will start January 17-27 and will showcase 113 featur length films, which 98 of them are premieres from over 32 countries. Here is the full list of films that will be shown in all competitions as well as the non competition films. Hopefully it won’t be too terribly cold in Utah this year. Some of these films look AMAZING!

The 15th Annual Tallgrass Film Festival is set to run from October 18 – 22 in Wichita, KS. The weekend boasts the inaugural presentation of the L.M. “Kit” Carson Storyteller Award to Larry Gross (‘48 Hours‘), and Ad Astra Award presentation to Rose McGowan (‘Charmed‘). Among the throng of films (182!!!) the fest has to offer, there are gala events, after-parties, and enough events to keep anyone, from the most green of festival-goers to the most seasoned pros that binge-watch for a living, entertained, interested, and hell, even relaxed. One of the ticket packages includes a massage.

The festival has given us a complete lineup of films for their 2017 event and since I’m such a nice person it’s my job, I’m giving it to you.

WWE has just finished its 8th TLC pay-per-view right here in Dallas, TX. No, TLC does not mean Tender Loving Care or even the R&B group from the 90s. It stands for Tables-Ladders-Chairs and is considered the “hardcore” PPV of the year for WWE. This was a Smackdown Live brand PPV event where every championship title was on the line. Between chair matches, ladder matches, table matches, and an all-encompassing TLC match to end the night, it’s no doubt that each and every superstar will be sore for next few days after all of their bodies were flung into these steel and wooden pieces of furniture. The event took place at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX to a big crowd, however it was far from a sell-out. That didn’t stop the crowd from cheering and booing their favorite superstars at all, even though it wasn’t as crazy a crowd as ‘Wrestlemania 32‘.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is releasing ‘Supergirl: The Complete First Season‘ to several home video formats on August 9, 2016. Be ready to pick up the very first season of the People’s Choice Award Winner for Favorite New TV Drama!

Over the weekend, a very trusted news source in Hollywood called Deadline, ran a news story that said, “Lebron James was going to star in the upcoming ‘Space Jam‘ sequel. The article mentioned producers and a studio, which was Warner Bros. A day or so later, Lebron and a couple of people on the NBA side and close to Lebron’s camp refuted the story and basically said this wasn’t happening. But the wording they used was confusing. The sources said that there have been no “substantive discussions”, which means, the deals are not made yet, however talks have happened. It seems like Warner Bros. is definitely making a ‘Space Jam‘ sequel, and they want Lebron to star in it, but again, no deals have been made yet. In my personal opinion, I think Shaq should star rather than Lebron. Or just get Jordan back. He’s not doing anything. Below is the original story.

I really wanted to like ‘That Awkward Moment‘, but I never found myself enjoying the film, other than the sporadic chuckles that came once every twenty minutes. And even then, it wasn’t a gut-busting laugh. One of the producers of ‘Movie 43‘, Tom Gormican, wrote and directed this movie. Let it also be known that this is also his only movie credit other than ‘Movie 43‘, which is obvious after you watch ‘That Awkward Moment‘. This twenty-something romantic comedy tries to hard to be a Judd Apatow film, but lacks just about everything good from an Apatow movie. It’s a clumsy flick that is cliched at every corner with poor editing, a terrible script, and some mis-cast actors. I’m sure this raunchy rom-com will make a decent amount of money, but will be instantly forgotten.

A tad late bringing this past week’s cool blu-ray picks to you, but it’s here and this coming week’s releases should be on time. Not a ton of stuff this week, except for tons of double feature re-releases which we won’t mention. Next week looks amazing though. Anywho, let’s jump right in and get to all the goodies. As usual in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and bizarre tales. So click on the pictures and start saving.

The Toronto Film Festival is coming up quickly and it looks like it is going to be one for the books. ‘Looper’ is going to open up the festival with several other centerpiece films that strike my fancy. Two of them include Joss Whedon’s Shakespeare film ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, and Terrence Malick’s new film, ‘To The Wonder’. Can’t wait. Below is the official press release. Who’s going? Piers Handling, CEO and Director of TIFF, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.

Criterion has announced some great titles to be released in the months of March and April of 2012. Some great classics on Blu-Ray. Below you can see all the extras and synopsis of each film. Also a link to pre order the titles listed. Enjoy. Especially looking forward to ‘Harold and Maude’. Click on the images to pre-order.

Getting caught up for October. I will actually have tomorrow’s releases out a day early. Oh Joy. I have been far behind but I will get caught up to this week in the next few hours. So let us jump right in and get to all the goodies. Some of the must own blu-rays include ‘Green Lantern’, ‘Red State’, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, plus some other goodies. As usual, in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and sales.

So many AWESOME releases in October. I have been far behind but I will get caught up to this week in the next few hours. So let us jump right in and get to all the goodies. Some of the must own blu-rays include ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Jackie Brown’, ‘Lion King’, plus some other goodies. As usual, in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and sales.

A pretty fun week for releases which includes a couple of excellent Criterion releases, plus some other goodies. As usual, in this article, you will get some info about the disc and the extras that come with the movie as well as a personal opinion about the movie and a link to purchase the film over at AMAZON where you can save quite a bit of money, and it will give a small percentage kick back to this site so we can continue bringing you excellent stories and sales.